How to change uppercase to lowercase in Word

On Windows

1. Select the text you want to change. Press Ctrl+A to select the whole document.
2. On the Home tab, click Change Case.
3. Choose lowercase, or Sentence case if you want a capital at the start of each sentence.

To undo the change, press Ctrl+Z. To use the keyboard instead, select the text and press Shift+F3 until you see the case you want.

On a Mac

1. Select the text.
2. On the Home tab, click Change Case.
3. Choose lowercase or Sentence case.

To undo, press ⌘+Z. The keyboard shortcut on a Mac is fn+Shift+F3, pressed until the case you want appears.

Sentence case in Word

Sentence case is in the same menu: Home > Change Case > Sentence case. Microsoft describes it as a capital for the first letter of each sentence, with every other letter lowercase.

That last part matters. Names, places and acronyms lose their capitals too, so "MEETING WITH SARAH IN LONDON" becomes "Meeting with sarah in london". Read the text once afterwards and put those capitals back.

The Shift+F3 shortcut doesn't include sentence case. According to Microsoft, it only switches between lowercase, UPPERCASE and Capitalize Each Word, so use the menu for sentence case.

What each Change Case option does

• Sentence case: a capital at the start of each sentence, everything else lowercase.
• lowercase: no capital letters at all.
• UPPERCASE: every letter a capital.
• Capitalize Each Word: the first letter of every word a capital, the rest lowercase.
• tOGGLE cASE: flips each letter, so "Capitalize Each Word" becomes "cAPITALIZE eACH wORD". Useful when text was typed with Caps Lock on by mistake.

Word for the web

Microsoft says Word for the web doesn't support changing case. You can open the document in the desktop app and use Change Case there, retype the text, or paste it into the converter below and copy the version you need back into your document.

Title case isn't in Word's menu

Word has no title case option. Capitalize Each Word gives every word a capital, so a heading comes out as "The Lord Of The Rings". Most style guides keep short words lowercase in titles. APA, for example, lowercases articles and conjunctions and prepositions of three letters or fewer, unless they start the title or follow a colon. That gives "The Lord of the Rings".

To get title case, paste your heading into the converter above and copy the Title Case result. Check names and brands afterwards, and check a few words against your style guide if you follow one closely.

PowerPoint and Excel

PowerPoint has the same Home > Change Case button and the same Shift+F3 shortcut. Unlike Word for the web, PowerPoint for the web supports changing case too.

Excel has no Change Case button. Microsoft's way is a formula in a spare column:

1. Next to your text, type =LOWER(A2) for lowercase, =UPPER(A2) for capitals or =PROPER(A2) to capitalise each word. Use your own cell instead of A2.
2. Fill the formula down the column.
3. Copy the new column, then paste it over the original with Paste > Values, and delete the spare column.

Excel has no sentence case function. For a column of sentences, paste the cells into the converter, copy the sentence case result and paste it back.

Small capitals

Small caps is a font effect, not a case change, so it isn't in the Change Case menu. On Windows, select the text, open the Font dialog from the small arrow in the Font group on the Home tab, and tick Small Caps under Effects. On a Mac, choose Format > Font and tick Small Caps, or press ⌘+Shift+K.